Motel One mulls tactics for US expansion

Motel One mulls tactics for US expansion

Munich, Germany – 12 February 2018 – German budget hotel chain Motel One could float on the stock exchange if it decides to expand to the United States or buy a competitor, chief executive Dieter Mueller told German daily Handelsblatt.

“When it comes to the question of how to best finance the company, a stock market flotation is an option. In addition, there are many investment banks that would like to bring us to the stock market,” he said.

Asked how an initial public offering could work considering that a Morgan Stanley fund owns 35 percent of the company, Mueller said the group could use the legal structure of a partnership limited by shares or float non-voting preference shares.

Mueller also said Motel One had around 30 new hotels in the pipeline, half of which are under construction. The group currently has 63 hotels.

He warned that demand may not keep up with the growing supply of hotel rooms in some cities.

“Worldwide, tourism grew by 7 percent last year. But we can unfortunately not assume that it will stay that way,” he said.